


The ReiSana One-shot Collection

by Pikablukachu



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Meet the Family, Meeting the Parents, Romance, Self-Indulgent, Sleepovers, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21736579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pikablukachu/pseuds/Pikablukachu
Summary: Does what it says on the tin: a collection of short Reimu/Sanae stories that I plan to add to over time. Feel free to bookmark!1. Sleepover (Dec '19) - Reimu stays round at her girlfriend's place for the first time.2. Kitten (NEW) - A tiny dilemma in the middle of a storm forces Reimu and Sanae to get to know each other better.
Relationships: Hakurei Reimu/Kochiya Sanae
Comments: 14
Kudos: 66





	1. Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reimu's never visited her girlfriend's place before, and Sanae's never had a friend round to stay the night before - but there's a first time for everything. How can a house on top of a mountain be so warm, anyway?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm finally writing Touhou again! So to ease myself back into it, I decided to write a quick self-indulgent story about Reimu staying over at the Moriya Shrine for a night.
> 
> I intend to write more short Reimu/Sanae fics like this, and collect them all here - so feel free to bookmark if that sounds good to you!  
> Enjoy!

***Knock... knock, knock***

Three solid knocks. A slight hesitation after the first, followed by a more rhythmical pace for the second two. It swung open within moments, definitely making obvious that the recipient had been waiting eagerly on the other side of the door all this time.

It was too late to turn back now.

"Reimu!" Came her delightfully musical voice, her smile so perfectly radiant that if Reimu didn't already know better, one could have sworn Sanae's smile was merely plastic. "What brings you all the way up Youkai Mountain tonight, hmmm?"

"Very funny." Reimu blushed lightly, awkwardly scratching her face behind a shy smile. "Uh, I mean, good evening Sanae. Thanks for having me."

Sanae tilted her head fondly, her expression relaxing. "Thank _you_ for coming... it means a lot to me." She smiled sweetly, but upon seeing the blush still dominating Reimu's face decided to hurry things along. Sanae held a welcoming hand out. "Uhm, can I take anything from you?"

Reimu's eyes had been fixed on Sanae's in sort of a trance while she anxiously re-processed the idea of the evening ahead. Then, she blinked. "N-no it's fine, I've got it!" She said with a spring, jostling her small pack more comfortably over her shoulder.

The red-white shrine maiden stiffly followed Sanae into the hallway, then Sanae politely shut the door behind her while Reimu removed her shoes.

The very moment Sanae shut out the cold outdoors, a warm air began to ruffle comfortably through Reimu's robes. This house was on top of a _mountain_! How was it this pleasantly warm!?

Lifting her gaze from neatly positioning her shoes near the doorway, Reimu got a better look at the thin hallway. Warm, light-brown wooden panelling smoothly lined the floors, remarkably clean and free of blemishes, damp or scuffs. The walls were a sturdier-looking plaster than she was used to seeing too, that’s for sure.

"P-pardon the intrusion!!" Reimu declared stiffly, lightly stepping her socks into the warm hallway behind Sanae.

"Is that Reimu I hear!?" Came a soothingly deep voice from the next room. That would be Kanako.  
"Oooh Reimu! Come say hi!" Came the lighter, more carefree voice of Suwako.

"Hey..." Sanae giggled lightly, giving Reimu's back a playful pat, "You're really not used to visiting other people, huh?"

"I-I guess..." Reimu felt a little self-conscious. It was more like she didn't get _invited_ into other peoples homes for anything besides business. Like, ever. "I mean, I visit some youkai places pretty often but most of them don't really care about manners."

Just talking about turning up to youkai abodes uninvited helped Reimu to feel a little more like herself again though.

"Silly," Sanae hummed, fondly glancing back as she lead Reimu through the hallway, "For what it's worth, you don't need to watch your manners _that_ carefully."

' _Easy for you to say._ ' Reimu thought to herself, squinting at the cute little sprout-like ahoge bobbing up and down atop Sanae's head, ' _You're not the one trying to make a good impression in front of her girlfriend's parents._ '

Sanae gently tugged open a door to the side of the hallway, leading into the main room. "Mom, mama, my date's arrived~." She beamed, then gestured for Reimu to follow her in.

"Welcome to the house finally, Reimu. Make yourself at home." Kanako said softly, lifting a cordial gaze from behind her reading glasses.

Reimu couldn't help but blink as she took in the living area, just making sure to keep her mouth politely shut instead of gawking.

The room was perhaps a little smaller than the grandiose idea in her head, and far more welcoming. Pleasantly lit, furnished with such caring warmth and comfort... a remarkable lack of clutter, yet there was somehow still a lot packed into the simple space. A large, fuzzy rug glowed delicately under the fire, which crackled away with a deep hum in the fireplace. An actual flat-screen TV! Much larger and more swanky than the ones at Kourin's place, but Reimu recalled Sanae saying they couldn’t get any TV signal here anyway.

Digression. The point is, Reimu could hardly believe how... different, this was, to virtually every other living room she'd been in before. It was absolutely nothing like the occasionally-drafty house attached to her own shrine. She'd visited the Scarlet Devil Mansion numerous times, but this was something else, even despite its more modest size! Were all houses like this in the outside world?

Kanako and Suwako were both relaxed on a large couch with a very, hm... cubey design. Definitely from the outside. Still, as spikey as it looked, the gods sure were sunk comfortably into those cushions.

Kanako was reading what looked to be a chunky, hard-back novel, her legs comfortably curled to her left. Her feet subtly stirred from within beige slippers as she turned to smile at Suwako; she must have been nesting here for hours already.

Suwako, on the other hand, had just been lying on her back, staring at the ceiling and carelessly kicking her feet about. After Sanae and Reimu entered though, she hoisted herself up slightly onto her elbow.

"Uh... really nice place you've got here." Reimu said, figuring that was an appropriately guest-like thing to say but betraying the fact she was far from used to this sort of thing.

"Thank you kindly." Suwako responded lightheartedly. "You kids wanna sit with us? We could watch a movie or something."

The idea of sitting them all sitting together was undeniably enticing... Reimu briefly imagined sinking into a plush couch like this, snuggled up lazily with Sanae, and smiled.

"Come on, mama." Reimu felt a gentle tug on her sleeve, turning to see Sanae easing out of the room with a quiet pout on her lips. "I talked about this, we're going to spend time in my room."

Sensing the opportunity for some choice teasing, Kanako peeked at the lovers from behind her glasses with a playful smirk. "That reminds me, Reimu, we have a wonderful guest room all set up for you."

Reimu's eyes darted between Kanako and Sanae, the green-head's face turning several shades pinker as she tugged Reimu more assertively out the door. "She's staying in _MY_ ROOM! We'll see you both _later_!"

Skipping slightly to keep her balance, Reimu was shoved back into the hallway and Sanae shut the door behind them.

"Uugh." Sanae rolled her eyes with an awkward smile. "Parents." She assertively took Reimu by the hand, and began to lead her further down the warm hallway.

"That’s what parents are like?" Reimu smirked. "Doesn't seem so bad."

Squeezing Reimu's hand lightly, Sanae turned back and flashed her girlfriend an understanding smile. "It's not. It's nice."

"Doon't forget!!" They heard Suwako's voice call after them, "Yoou're in charge of dinner, Sanae!"

"We'll see you _laterrr_!!" Sanae repeated, her voice slipping into a subtly whiny intonation - a domestic tone Reimu wasn’t familiar with.

The red-white shrine maiden's heart lifted with a warm, comfortable sensation at seeing this slightly different side to her girlfriend.

Being welcomed so earnestly into a family's home like this felt nice. It felt really, really good.

...

Reimu stepped forth into an unknown land... new horizons stretched out before her... exciting, uncharted territory...

Her girlfriend's bedroom.

"Shut the door behind you." Sanae chimed, leisurely meandering into the middle of the room and flopping comfortably down onto what looked like a really large purple cushion. "They usually don't disturb me when the door's closed."

Reimu was struggling to keep a thoroughly charmed grin from her face as she gently closed the door. "I know you've told me before you call them mom but... 'mom' and 'mama'? That's adorable." Reimu beamed, stepping further into the room.

The green-head tilted her head with an awkward giggle. "Y-yeah. I only call them 'Lady Kanako' and 'Lady Suwako' publicly. At home, I've always called them 'mom' and 'mama', hehehe..."

Reimu giggled back with a sweet smile. Seeing the different spaces in their home made it all the easier for her to picture the sort of close domestic life they lived as a family.

It was hard to describe. She'd never seen a room both so... clean, _and_ playful, before. There were neat shelves of books near the entrance-way, occasional spaces between volumes which Sanae had decided to use to display various kinds of robotic figurines. A little further in was a tall, warm-wood wardrobe with a simple, modern design, and a tall standing mirror with a white finish next to it. Opposite those was Sanae’s weird purple cushion, and a small, low side-table with a lamp on it.

There was a clear space in the middle of the floor, where Reimu assumed Sanae laid out her futon. A simple white desk nearer the door had another small mirror on it and a cup filled with odd pencils and pens, but other than that it was totally empty, probably kept tidy by Sanae’s clean side.

The far, hidden corner of the room on the other hand was... 'decorated', with a large assortment of black wires and plastic slabs with buttons on them. Games and stuff, Reimu guessed. Some wires spilled forth from a big cardboard box, with others connected to the dark grey box connected to the small TV. _This_ TV looked more like the ones at Kourindou.

Walls of a slightly dark, cream colour made the room feel warm and modern, without losing that hint of childlike curiosity. That was probably helped by the fact that further to the back of the room, said walls became increasingly plastered in posters. Cartoon characters and people Reimu didn't recognise, doing bombastic or dramatic poses.

The men in these posters had _much_ nicer hair than most of the men in the village did.

Reimu grinned and walked towards one of the posters above Sanae's side-table. "There's one I recognise. Pikachu, right?"

"Yep, that's Pikachu." Sanae giggled. She had been watching with adoration at Reimu's reactions this whole time. "Hey, you can put your pack down right there if you want."

"O-oh, thanks." Reimu suddenly remembered she was still holding it over her shoulder. She hopped it gently her shoulder into her arms, and placed it neatly next to Sanae's side-table.

"So what did you bring? Did you bring a toothbrush?"

"Just the essentials. Yeah, a toothbrush." Reimu giggled.

"Bring your jammies?"

"Yes... I brought my pyjamas." Reimu rolled her eyes with a smirk, turning towards Sanae with her hands on her hips. "Pretty much just that and a clean change of clothes, though."

"You didn't bring anything fun?" Sanae rolled over slightly on that large, weird purple cushion. It seemed to loudly bristle as she shifted her weight, leaving an imprint of where she had been lying before.

"I don't normally do this kinda thing! It's novel, so I just figured I'd do whatever you wanted to do." Reimu muttered, anxiously scratching her face again, stiffly standing in the centre of the room.

Sanae tried to sit up in the cushion thing, giggling as she kept slipping forward. "Hey, make yourself comfortable silly! Don't stand around feeling awkward." she patted a spot next to her.

... It didn't look big enough for two women, but sure, okay.

Reimu ducked down, then flopped herself onto it. "Whoa!" She exclaimed, making Sanae giggle loudly. It felt like bits of the cushion were making way beneath her as she sunk into it with a jostling sound. Having finally ensnared her girlfriend within cuddle proximity, Sanae playfully wrapped an arm around her. Before Reimu knew it, she was lying with her back leant into Sanae.

"So. What is this thing?" Reimu patted the cushion with her hand, letting herself relax into Sanae's cuddle slightly.

"It's a bean bag. They're suuuper comfortable, right!? Way more relaxing than chairs."

A bean bag? Reimu would reserve judgement for the time being. It was definitely really cool, but the sensation of the beans rustling around felt really weird.

For now, she just leaned her head against Sanae's shoulder, while the green-head started running her hands affectionately through Reimu's hair.

Reimu felt Sanae’s stomach heave in a sigh, absentmindedly braiding a strand of Reimu’s hair. "Your reactions were great, Reimu... You're finally here! I've been so excited to show you my room for so long, now..." Sanae hummed, kissing the back of Reimu's head.

"I'm glad." Reimu mumbled, brushing Sanae's hand with the back of her left hand and nuzzling herself back into Sanae's light cuddle. "It's a great room. It's so completely... 'you'. So I can't help but love it, you know?"

Sanae pushed her nose comfortably into Reimu's shoulder, a gentle blush heating her body. "Really... I want you to visit even more if you can. I want to show you so many old games and manga and other neat outside world things! But most of all..." She wrapped an arm around Reimu's tummy, and pressed her nose into the back of Reimu's neck. "I'm just really happy you're here, Reimu. I've never had a friend round before, let alone a girlfriend. It feels right..."

Reimu relaxed her eyes shut and tried to shuffle her weight slightly to better enjoy Sanae's cuddle. Then she shuffled again. She felt Sanae squeeze her and giggle lightly, but Reimu scrunched her eyes in irritation while she tried to adjust her position again.

"You okay there, cutie?" Sanae leant her chin over Reimu's shoulder, cuddling her more tightly from behind and giving Reimu's jaw a light peck.

"Huuuuuu..." Reimu's mouth hung open in disappointment, her eyelids drooping. "I can't get comfortable on this thing... I don't know how you do it."

Sanae gave Reimu's cheek a more affectionate kiss and briefly gave her a possessive squeeze. "You get used to it. Wanna sit somewhere else?"

Reimu craned her back to try in vain to relax into Sanae a bit more, but a dull ache panged in her lower back. Actually, come to think of it, Reimu's back felt like crap. Had she been carrying her pack awkwardly during the trip up the mountain or something? Geez.

"A-actually..." Reimu sighed awkwardly, turning to Sanae's cute face. "Would you mind if we set up the futons now? I think my back needs to lie down."

"You're getting old."

"Zip it."

...

A little chatter and dilly-dally later, a pair of futons were finally laid out. One beside the other, a surprisingly plush-looking futon with cool blue covers for Sanae, and a spare futon, cute pink sheets adorned with a subtle heart-pattern, for Reimu.

Reimu thought it was just so _like_ Sanae to have such adorable bedclothes. Picturing Sanae sleeping serenely under her own cool-blue sheets, Reimu giggled a light blush to herself.

Eagerly making herself more at home, Reimu crawled onto her designated spare futon, shuffled onto her butt, then eased down.

Finally... much better. Reimu laid flat on her back, careful not to squirm too much to get comfy as she didn't want to disturb the clean sheets too much.

Trying to get comfy was hardly necessary though; this futon was _really_ comfortable. The texture was a little weird, but she sunk into it so effortlessly! Outside world futons had like, 'synthesised cottons' and stuff, whatever that meant.

Anyway, what mattered is that it was really comfy. Really really comfy. Reimu could _easily_ see herself falling asleep here.

Here, in this room that smelled like Sanae... near her girlfriend... the watchful eye of someone who genuinely cared about her...

... mu

"... Reimu. Hey."

"Wh-whoa." Reimu blinked a few times and hoisted herself weakly with her elbow. "Did I actually nod off for a bit there?"

Sanae gave a playful nod. She came to perch herself at the side of the futon Reimu was resting on, and placed her warm hand over Reimu's. "You seem really worn out, what have you been up to today?"

Reimu tilted her head to face Sanae, flashing a slightly ashamed smile. "I think I just haven't been getting proper rest lately, and I've been a little stressed out. This always happens when there haven't been many incidents."

Sanae giggled. "What's the deal with that, getting more tired when nothing is happening? You're so weird."

Her words contrasted her expression, lost in Reimu's face with such an adorably enamoured gaze. She leaned her goofily grinning cheek into her left hand and playfully poked at Reimu's fingers with her right. "I was kinda hoping we'd have more time to hang out before dinner, but a lot of time passed with us just sitting around, talking and setting up the futons."

Reimu flopped back onto her back with a giggle, but let her fingers interlace with Sanae's. "Sorry about that, sweetie."

Sanae's grin widened into a playful smirk. "No worries! This is just the first night of hopefully many where I've got you all to myself."

She swivelled her legs and got up to a crawl, then threw her right leg over Reimu's stomach while supporting her balance with her left arm and leg.

"Uh... what are you doing?" Reimu looked up at Sanae's deviously angelic grin.

"Sitting on you?" The green-head chimed, shuffling herself to sit more comfortably around Reimu's hips. "You're even more comfortable than my futon."

Reimu absentmindedly played with one of Sanae's hands and glanced up into her eyes. "Well if you wanted me to get up, it's a little harder with you on top of me." She bantered.

Plus, feeling Sanae's legs straddled around her hips meant she couldn't _help_ but feel a little self-conscious. Then she caught Sanae grinning mischievously and- yeah. Before Reimu knew it, her eyes were darting away. That usually meant...

"You're _blushiing_." Sanae giggled, leaning forwards over Reimu a little, supported by her hands. "It feels good to have your cute expressions to myself, too..."

"S-Sanae..." Reimu's eyes flickered back into Sanae's. Sanae's face was lowering to hers, her long, radiant green hair sliding all around her almost blocking out the room's light. Loose sleeves and top hung down and brushed Reimu's own top, as Sanae lowered her face towards Reimu's.

Surrounded by fluffy locks of green hair, hands gripping hers, Sanae's torso virtually covering Reimu's entirely, foreheads quietly bumped.

"Heya..."

"H-hey..." Reimu giggled awkwardly through a self-conscious blush, squeezing Sanae's hands back. For a moment, they could hear each other breathing...

“Sanaaae, where’s fooood!" Came a sudden, naggy voice from the doorway that made Reimu squeak internally. Reimu never squeaked out loud, of course! She was a professional!

Sanae turned her head towards the door. "Mama, you're not supposed to enter when the door's closed! Geez!" She lifted herself off Reimu, surprisingly composed, and got up to sit.

"But I'm hungryy!" Suwako clapped with a completely guiltless laugh, backing away from the door and nonchalantly heading back towards the living area.

Sanae hugged her legs in her arms, then tilted her head sweetly towards her lazy lover. "We'd better get cooking, there'll be more time to play later."

With that, Sanae got to her feet and neatened out her top and skirt. "Follow me, it’ll be fun to cook together too!"

Despite the interruption, Reimu couldn’t shake this wonderful mood. A smile dominated the red-white's face as she forced herself up.

Her only real thought on the issue, was ' _That was her idea of 'playing'!?_ '

...

'Nothing special' is what Sanae called the meal they prepared together, but it still wasn't the sort of meal Reimu was used to preparing.

Reimu was used to cooking for one. Okay occasionally two or three, and periodically enough for a party, but never a hearty meal for a family.

Fresh boiled sweet potatoes and chestnuts from the mountain, stewed with veggies and tender slices of beef, all in comfortable abundance. There would easily more than enough for seconds, or leftovers tomorrow morning - served with plentiful mounds of fluffy white rice, of course! But wait, there's more! A side of miso soup for the four of them, and oolong tea to help wash it all down.

“Nothing special, simple comfort food.” Sanae had said, “It's food that feels like home.”

Cooking with Sanae was always a delight, and Reimu was actually a pretty good cook despite her usual lack of passion for it. Maybe it was the fact Sanae cooked for a family of such ancient gods, or maybe it was her outside world naivety, but Reimu found herself coming up with numerous ways to add a little kick or spice to the dish more than a couple of times.

If the two of them could cook together more often, they'd probably be pretty unstoppable.

After Reimu and Sanae had finished setting the table and everyone had gotten themselves seated, a round chant of "I humbly receive this meal." showed how eager everyone was to dig in.

"Ahh... it smells so good today, Sanae!" Kanako held her hand to her cheek in delight at the stew's aroma.

"Thanks." Sanae beamed a rosy-red smile, getting another whiff of it herself. "Reimu gave me some pointers to bring out the flavour, so it'll be a little different this week!"

"Are we going to need Reimu to visit more often then?" Kanako raised a playful eyebrow at the couple. Reimu blushed, then tried to examine the furniture around the room rather than looking Kanako in the eyes.

Her eyes darted to a mantelpiece, which seemed to be used more for sentiment than anything holy. A row of cute froggy ornaments with heads that bobbed up and down, a couple of candle holders, and a framed photograph.

Noticing Reimu's awkward mood, Sanae huffed a laugh. "C’mon mom, Reimu’s help isn’t at all necessary to make it this good- Oh crap."

Sanae covered her mouth, almost horrified. Reimu just chuckled and moved her hand to give Sanae's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

Sanae had a habit of saying things the wrong way that made them sound inconsiderate or thoughtless... by now though, Reimu just thought it was cute. She dealt with people far ruder than Sanae every single day.

"Food should be appreciated through eating it, not looking at it!" Suwako ribbited jovially, already swallowing down a hot spoonful of stew with contented pink cheeks.

Reimu and Sanae exchanged sheepish smiles and blushed at one-another, feeling overall pretty proud of their handiwork.

The mood had lightened again, and the three gods quickly began chattering idly among each other.

Before arriving, Reimu had been a little worried she’d struggle to fit in with a tight-knit family like this... but being here? Welcomed, sitting at their table, treated like they all genuinely accepted her? It was such a warm atmosphere that she couldn't help but relax.

Absentmindedly, Reimu found her gaze falling back on the framed photograph she had spotted earlier.

A trio of familiar faces stood in front of the Moriya Shrine, but in a location Reimu didn't recognise. Suwako and Kanako looked tired, but happy; their arms wrapped proudly around a young, green-haired girl. The girl’s arms were gripped onto those of the gods behind her, her round face beaming a bright smile filled with love.

* * *

Things were going well! They were going really smoothly! Sanae had been looking forward to a day like this for so long, and sure she hadn't been able to pack in _all_ the things she wanted to do before dinner, but her and Reimu made a great team in the kitchen as always.

The green-head couldn't help but slightly resent that her parents had to be so... parent-like, about her having her girlfriend round though. She still felt a little irked that Suwako had so rudely waltzed in earlier... but that was just like her, and Reimu seemed to be handling it well at least.

After finishing setting the table with Reimu and giving her moms some confident grins, the four sat round the table together. Sanae next to Reimu, with her moms on the other side.

"I humbly receive this meal."

Sanae's eyes couldn't help but lovingly watch Reimu, who was adorably watching Kanako and Suwako's reactions to the meal they'd prepared.

Sanae only hoped they wouldn't be... _weird,_ about it.

"Ahh, it smells so good today, Sanae!" Kanako seemed to bask in the smell, definitely a relief to Sanae.

"Thanks." To remind herself of how good a job they'd done, Sanae took in the scent again herself. It really did smell good this week... there was a certain edge that cut through the senses on top of the usually comforting flavour, just as Reimu had intended. "Reimu gave me some pointers to bring out the flavour, so it'll be a little different this week!"

A look at Kanako’s teasing face made Sanae pout in anticipation. "Are we going to need Reimu to visit more often then?" The mother grinned at the couple. Sanae quickly noticed Reimu's eyes darting around the room.

' _Ugh, mom..._ ' Sanae thought, quickly scrambling to think of something to say to take the pressure off Reimu. Forcing a laugh, Sanae bantered back. "C’mon mom, Reimu’s help isn’t at all necessary to make it this good- Oh crap."

Her big mouth! The moment the words had left Sanae's lips she realised that her intent and sentiment had come out completely wrong. O-of course she hadn’t meant to sound so ungrateful for Reimu's help and company-!

In a minor panic, she turned a jittery face towards Reimu - only to feel Reimu's warm hand squeeze her shoulder. Reimu smiled sheepishly at her girlfriend, tilting her head in understanding, and Sanae sighed back, mirroring Reimu's smile.

Yeah... Reimu got it. They'd been friends long enough by now that these little lapses of social sense from Sanae were something they'd gotten used to.

"Food should be appreciated through eating it, not looking at it!" Mercifully interrupted Suwako, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the meal already. At the very least, both Suwako and Kanako seemed really happy for the four of them to be eating together - so Sanae really couldn't help but relax herself.

She exchanged a sheepish, blushy smile with Reimu, sharing a moment of pride in the comfort-meal they'd made together.

For a brief moment, Sanae's heart fluttered at the idea that someday, her and Reimu cooking together almost every night could become the norm.

Moods remained light, but as Sanae finally started digging into dinner herself, she couldn't help but notice Reimu's sight repeatedly dwelling on the framed photo of her family on the mantelpiece.

That's right... Sanae had been so worried about her family making the wrong impression or being embarrassing all evening, but Reimu had smiled when they nagged Sanae to cook. She smiled at the light banter. She told Sanae it didn't sound so bad.

Reimu had never once shown genuine discomfort with it. That was all _her_.

It _was_ nice, Sanae loved her parents more than almost anything else. But even as an adult it was just all too easy to regress into 'embarrassed teenager' mode when she hadn't had a girlfriend over like... ever.

So Sanae finally decided that there was probably no need to worry about her parents being embarrassing. Rather than actually relaxing about it though, Sanae instead began to worry that she was being insensitive towards Reimu.

By the time her and Reimu were cleaning up dishes in the kitchen together after the meal, Sanae had started to wonder if she should... say something.

Setting a large pot to soak for a moment, Sanae turned to Reimu, who was wiping the table. "Hey, Reimu?" She started in that defensive tone of hers, "Did you wanna watch a movie, or have a drink with my parents or anything?"

"Mm?" Reimu turned her head back with a sweet, earnest smile. It was the kind of smile she only ever put on when she was drunk - or when she was talking to Sanae. "I'm really good with whatever, I'm just happy to be here."

"It's just that-" Sanae pressed on, "Ever since you got here, I've kinda been hogging you and acting all ashamed about my parents. I didn't even stop to think about what you wanted or-"

Sanae felt a warm pair of lips press into her cheek, then pull away with a lighthearted giggle.

"Hey, you're doing it again." Reimu span around to Sanae's front, eyes lidded along with a playful smirk. "Worrying about little things, right?"

Sanae slouched a little and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "I-I'm just anxious about making a good impression..."

Reimu affectionately pressed her finger to Sanae's nose. "That makes two of us." then leaned into her with a light, reassuring hug. "No matter what your head's telling you, all I've been thinking about is that I've never 'gone to a friend's house' to 'eat dinner with their family' or anything like that. How you all act around each other with me here is like, the last thing on my mind."

Tilting her head with a kind smile, Reimu cupped Sanae's cheek. Sanae leaned her head into Reimu's hand slightly, pouting. Eventually though, her playful pout relaxed into a smile, and the two giggled together.

"Worrying about little things... As always, right?" The green-head sighed to herself, finally relaxing a little. Reimu had been thinking about totally different things the whole evening, of course. Even though Sanae had worked herself up over something so weirdly specific...

"Thanks for wanting to be a good host though, your record for that's already better than mine."

Sanae put a finger to her own lips and relaxed her eyes, playfully swaying to and fro in Reimu's arms. "Does that mean you owe me one? Very special treatment next time I visit you, perhaps?"

Reimu scoffed a laugh while affectionately squeezing Sanae's arm around her. "I might go _really_ wild and treat you like I love you." she joked.

"Oh noo! Your reputation for being a meeanie!" Sanae joked back, leaning forward to give Reimu a peck on the jaw.

Just like that, Sanae's worries had evaporated.

Reimu wasn't one for acting, the bright moods she showed Sanae weren't moods she showed to anyone else. She really _was_ happy to be here.

Even faced with the typically-tedious chore of dishes, the two struggled to keep goofy smiles from their content, pink face.

...

In the end, it was an evening spent doing nothing much in particular.

A little time chatting with Kanako and Suwako, relaxing in the living area with a hot cup of tea. Half-committing in trying to watch one of those old anime tapes Sanae had always wanted to show Reimu. Sanae hurriedly showing Reimu a bunch of tangential and arbitrary knick-knacks from the outside around her room, with a whole lot of idle cuddling and snuggling.

In the end... even though Sanae had planned out all this stuff she wanted to do... she felt even more relaxed like this. This... was really nice.

Plus she could tell that _Reimu_ felt relaxed. Maybe that was the most important thing?

Not being a perfect host... not having a checklist of things to do together under a time-limit... just relaxing.

Making Reimu feel... home.

Those were the thoughts that ran through Sanae's mind as she lay on her stomach on her futon, once again leaning her chin in her fist and staring adoringly at her girlfriend. Reimu had, eventually, sunk herself comfortably into the bean bag and was staring with confused intrigue at Sanae's "Yu-Gi-Oh!" volume 3 tankobon.

Sanae didn't remember if she ever even _owned_ volume 1 or 2. This was the only Yu-Gi-Oh! book she currently had, so it was very entertaining to see Reimu try to make sense of it. There was probably no way she could.

"All right kiddos, lights out!" Suwako huffed from outside Sanae's bedroom door in an entirely performed deep voice.

"Shut up, you insufferable bastard." Chimed Kanako affectionately from further down the hall. Suwako burst out laughing and her voice trailed into the living room with Kanako.

With a loud, playful sigh, Sanae hoisted herself up and slid her door to a shut. "She loooves the opportunity to act like an out-of-touch grandparent. She's having a great time." Sanae smiled sweetly at Reimu, who beamed back with a lighthearted chuckle.

"I'll have to visit again soon. You're all adoorablle." Reimu's words slurred as she stretched sleepily, putting the book back on the shelf and trying to heave herself from the bean bag. "Maybe hitting the hay wouldn't be a bad idea though."

Once the two had brushed their teeth and changed into their sleepwear, Reimu was quick to snuggle up under her covers, flat on her back. Sanae returned from the bathroom to see Reimu's covers pulled up to her nose, a playfully relaxed contentment in Reimu's eyes.

"Comfy?" The green-head giggled.

"Comfy. Do you always wear that?" Reimu sat herself up again with a smirk, pointing out Sanae's 'pyjamas'.

Whereas Reimu wore relatively plain white robes as pyjamas, Sanae was wearing a light t-shirt and light, baggy bottoms that trailed at her feet. The bottoms were a dark green colour, but the t-shirt was grey with a loud, pink pattern that almost resembled a snake.

"This?" Sanae playfully twirled around on one foot, like she imagined a model might. "Just one of my old shirts from outside that still fits me. You like it?"

"It's really cute!" Reimu grinned. "I just don't see weird clothes like that too often."

"You want one? They’re really comfyy, and I probably have some that'd fit youu." Sanae teased sweetly, making her way over to the light. "You okay if I turn the light off?"

"I uh... I'll see," Reimu snuggled back into bed, "And yeah go for it."

Sanae flicked the light switch and, betraying years of habit, almost walked into Reimu on her way to her own futon. "Whoops, hehe."

"Hi, Sanae's foot." Reimu mumbled.

"Shush."

Crawling into her own futon and pulling the sheets up, Sanae curled onto her side to face Reimu. "Hey, Reimu..."

Reimu shuffled onto her side to face Sanae. Sanae could just make out the goofy smile on Reimu's face through the dark. "Hey cutie." She replied.

Sanae rewarded Reimu with a giggle. Her eyes lidded, and she pulled the covers comfortably up to her nose to hide her own smile. "... Night night."

"G'night." Reimu's voice trailed into a comfortable, sleepy mumble.

Sanae turned onto her back again. Still feeling pretty awake, she stared at the ceiling, her mind rushing fondly through the evening. Now that it had settled, she couldn't help but grin to herself at Suwako saying 'lights out' like that. It made her feel... kinda like a kid again.

Then, Sanae had an idea.

She shot up to a sit, and pulled her covers up over her head. The sound of shuffling and fumbling made Reimu, who wasn’t quite asleep yet, stir.

A hand sneaked its way under Reimu's covers and gently tugged at her top.

"What're you up to...?" Reimu mumbled fondly.

"Psssst, Reimu...!" Sanae whispered loudly, ducking under Reimu's bed-sheets from her own, illuminated by the light of her PSP, "Get under here!"

Reimu rubbed her eyes, shielding them slightly from the surprisingly bright light of the device's screen. "H-huh?" she mumbled, then crawled from her sheets to underneath Sanae's.

Sanae'd covers were supported by their heads, making it feel almost like a tent. A very silly tent with a draft coming in at the sides, they were both a little tall for this.

"I wanted to try out one big sleepover staple; rebelliously staying up late playing games under the covers!" Sanae whispered with a grin, before another huge realisation came over her expression "OH! Be back in a sec I forgot something!"

"Huuuhh??" Reimu, still pretty sleepy and confused, giggled as Sanae slipped out from under the sheets and within seconds, left the room. Reimu was left curiously looking at Sanae’s PSP, only hearing the traipsing of Sanae's feet going down the hallway towards the kitchen.

"What's up, sweetie?" Came Kanako's voice from the living room. "Need something?"

"I'm not here, pretend you can't hear me." Sanae hummed playfully back amid the sound of crinkling plastic and foil packets.

Then, the sound of Sanae's feet thud thud thudding back down the hallway, and the door sliding shut behind her, blotting out the hallway light.

Sanae dived back under the sheet with such an exuberant energetic smile on her face that it even made Reimu feel more awake again. "Wh-whoa..." Reimu mumbled at the colourful array of packaging in Sanae’s arms.

"Snacks!!" She beamed, dropping a huge pile of assorted junk-food packets from her arms onto her futon. "Snacks and video games in the middle of the night, the _ultimate_ sleepover experience!!"

Sanae was so excited that she had long stopped caring that this may not _mean_ much to Reimu. Her hopes of indulging paid off though, because Reimu was so infatuated with Sanae's adorable excitement that she didn't even question it.

"Ok, what have we got," Reimu said, "What's this one?"

Shoving her PSP to the side, Sanae started ordering the packets by type. "We've got rice crackers here, potato chips... uh, salty ones, cheesy ones... and we've got chocolates and toffees and other sweets over here."

"You'll want me to wash my hands between snacks if we're playing games, right?" Reimu's eyes lidded with a grin at Sanae. She knew Sanae cared about keeping her stuff from getting mucky.

After staring at the snacks and her PSP in silence for a few moments though, Sanae shook her head excitedly, her long green hair flicking everywhere and clumsily obscuring her face. "Nope! It's a sleepover, who cares!"

"S-Sanae!" Reimu grinned, starting to giggle. "Fine, but remember this was your idea!" She laughed louder while Sanae, excitedly ignoring Reimu, scrambled out from the covers and returned in seconds with another handheld device - one she thrust into Reimu's hands.

"My DS! You're gonna play that, I'm gonna play this!" She held up her PSP.

Reimu nodded slowly. "Okay... I think I can do that." She took the DS from Sanae's hands and searched for the power switch. She'd used Sanae's DS before, so she could kinda remember... yeah, there it was. "Uh, what snack should I eat first?"

The sound of contented crunching was already coming from Sanae's direction. "Try whatever, I'm not your mom!" Sanae muffled, her mouth filled with salty rice cracker, heroic music and beastly noises already coming from her PSP.

Letting curiosity take over, Reimu picked out a bright green-coloured pack of potato chips. She hadn't tried these before.

She tore them open, then tried to get comfortable with the DS. Oh! It was that game with the cute dog that she'd played last time. A small smile of familiarity snuck across her face when she recognised the same puppy from the last time she played. She had named it ‘Aunn’ because she wasn’t great with names, but Sanae seemed to love it.

In a moment of quiet, nothing but the sound of shuffling sheets, crunching and the tapping of buttons and screens, Sanae's hand reached for Reimu's top and gave it a shy tug.

Without needing a word to be said, Reimu awkwardly shuffled herself to sit alongside Sanae, and leaned comfortably against her. Sanae felt Reimu lean into her, and leaned back.

Barely covered by Sanae's bed-sheets, illuminated by the lights of screens, warmed by each others bodies and pyjamas. Reimu and Sanae relaxed and indulged, finally sharing some of the simple joys of childhood friendship that they had both never really had before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glossary:  
> ahoge - a little tuft of hair that sticks or points up off a character's head  
> tankobon - the name given to a collection of manga chapters in book/volume form
> 
> \---------------------
> 
> Hello everyone, I hope you've been well.
> 
> I wanted to write something simple and fluffy for purely indulgent reasons, and I loved the idea of Reimu visiting Sanae's house for the first time.
> 
> While the narration is third person, the first half focuses more on Reimu's perspective and the second half more on Sanae's. Even though they're both adults in this chapter, I wanted to capture the childlike feeling of being invited to a family home and spending meaningful time with a close friend or partner. In this cosy story, the only real "conflict" is that Reimu and Sanae have different anxieties about how things are going - which is easily addressed.
> 
> Generally it's a pretty canon-compliant interpretation of everyone, but I went all-in on a family spin of Moriya Shrine. The headcanon of Kanako and Suwako literally being Sanae's adoptive parents is something I only landed on recently, but I love it.
> 
> As I mentioned in the intro, I intend to add chapters to this eventually with other one-shot Reimu/Sanae stories like this one. I don't have an ETA on the next chapter yet as I'm working on other things, but it'll definitely happen.
> 
> \--------------------------------  
> If you're unfamiliar with my works and you enjoyed this, please check out some of my older works!
> 
> Crush (on) Your Rival - A long Reimu/Sanae story focused around adding a romantic relationship arc to Touhou canon.  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/15694578
> 
> A World Without You - A gripping, plot-focused story that centres on Yukari Yakumo. Still the work I'm most proud of!  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/14279868


	2. Kitten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been about a year since Sanae arrived in Gensokyo, and Reimu is still frustrated at her rival's lack of common sense. When a huge storm rolls in though, a tiny dilemma forces the two to get to know each other better.

"Hey! Shouldn't you be getting back soon? It looks like it's gonna start really coming down!"

"Y-yeah, sure!" Sanae waved, wearing a naive smile as green as her hair. "I'm almost done tending to this!"

Reimu was already prepared; she had long finished safely storing away all the various displayed goshintai, and tools she used around the shrine grounds. Giving Sanae a pout, Reimu turned her glance to the clouds.

The rainy season was just about upon Gensokyo... and judging from that dense tension visible in the sky and the restless behaviour of the forest animals, it was going to be a pretty brutal one this year.

And yet, Sanae Kochiya continued to dawdle diligently around the branch shrine that her family had established here.

Last year's storms may have been a little underwhelming by Gensokyo-standards, but wasn't this girl being _too_ optimistic? She had quite a trek to get home, after all.

"All right..." Reimu said with a shrug. She held a hand out to the air... the first sputters of rain were already beginning to fall. “But don't blame me if you get stuck in it, I'm not just gonna let you crash at my place, you know."

This time, Sanae flashed Reimu a pout of her own, "I-I know that! I said I'm almost done! You just worry about your _own rickety shrine_ , 'kay?"

Reimu quickly turned back indoors, hiding her grimace from the other girl. The newbie still had a mouth on her, huh...

... Well, maybe Reimu had that one coming.

Without saying another word, Reimu shut the door behind her. Whatever. Sanae wasn't going to be Reimu's problem for at least a few days while the worst of the storms passed over.

For now, Reimu set to double-checking her food supplies. What do you know; she was stocked up fine. She checked her shrine's screens and doors; all sturdy and in good nick. She even had a little extra charcoal for the kotatsu.

Not bad for a 'rickety' shrine, huh.

Half an hour or so passed, and Reimu curiously peeked out the shutters.

Sure enough, Sanae was still out there... the rain was still fairly light, but still! What was she thinking!? Idiot.

Noticing that she was subconsciously grinding her teeth, Reimu stomped back from the shutter and opted to try and put Sanae out of her mind. As always, Sanae would inevitably realise she was in over her head, and head home as the storm hit. At worst she'd get a little drenched, but she'd be _fine_.

More importantly, that thick rumbling in the sky... the storm was already beginning to set in, Reimu likely wouldn't be having any visitors or company for a while. She figured she may as well fix up a simple dinner and head to bed early, so she could wake up early tomorrow to deal with any potential leaks or damp.

Warm rice and a bowl of hot miso soup would do fine for today. Reimu wasn't particularly hungry, and she wanted to make extra sure she had more than enough food to last.

After all; going to the village in the middle of a storm was always a terrible idea. Not hugely dangerous for someone like Reimu, but it still _sucked_. And for weaker humans, youkai and animals, being caught in a storm this bad often meant death.

Another hour or so passed. It was already pretty dark; around the time of sunset, but the grim clouds meant that the sun was nowhere to be seen.

The rain was coming down pretty hard now. The way Reimu's shutters rattled with increasing intensity was a dead giveaway.

Sanae...

A twinge of anxiety forced Reimu to peer outside again.

Thank god, she was gone. Hopefully she had left a while ago.

As much as Reimu was hesitant to admit it, it was much easier to sleep soundly through thundering wind and rain than it was to sleep worrying about someone getting hurt. That Sanae was still so lacking in Gensokyo common sense...

That was that then. Time for bed.

...

...-attattatta

... ... rattattat _tattattat_

_Shudder, shudder._ _**RATTATTATTATTAT**_.

Reimu's eyes irritably fluttered open. Ugh, was the wind really this bad already? It sounded like something was being blown violently against the building's walls.

Reimu tossed onto her other side, threw the sheets over her ears, and scrunched her eyes shut.

_Rumble, rumble, THUDDUDDUDD..._

That _RATTATAT, RATTATAT_ of loud knocking persisted, accompanied by the unnerving whistles and howls of wind and rain lashing against the shrine. It was difficult for Reimu to even hear her own thoughts in this racket.

Fine, time to get up and see if she couldn't move something to keep the noise down. She resentfully eased her arms out from the warm covers, lit a candle beside her futon, and shuffled through to the main room with a yawn.

_RATTATTAT_. "-... eimu."

... Huh?

_RAT **TATTATTAT**. _"Reimu! Can you hear me?"

No. No way.

A stew of concern and annoyance driving her awake, Reimu stomped to the door and threw it open.

There, stood at her door in the dark, green hair and blue-white robes drenched to the bone, was Sanae.

"... Sanae," Reimu muttered in disbelief. She was annoyed, but how could she not also worry, seeing Sanae like this?

"Omigosh, Reimu! Were you sleeping?” Sanae responded, noticing Reimu in her sleepwear. “I thought it was still pretty early, sorry!" her intonation so playful that it seemed almost like she had no idea she was soaked and shivering.

"I told you to go home," Reimu said, holding out her candle, eyes still adjusting to the dark. Sanae's face was bright pink and damp from the cold rain and wind, but she didn't look like she was in pain or anything.

She looked... worried?

"I know, I know," Sanae shuffled a little closer to Reimu's door. "Maybe I left a little too late but I'm still glad I left when I did. Look... can we come in?"

Reimu rolled her eyes. Typical, she'd be intruded on by a hopeless new girl once again. This always happened, no respect, no peace, just people stopping by and using her house as their own whenever they please-

Sanae began to fumble with the shirt of her robes, and her robes protested with a high-pitched squeak.

Reimu stumbled backward slightly, her heart lurching in realisation.

Oh... that's why Sanae had said 'we'.

Out from bundled up in Sanae's clothes peeked a soaked, mangy kitten. Reimu held out her candle to get a closer look; it couldn't have been more than a few weeks old. Matted fur caked in dirt. A hoarse, mewling voice still learning to speak. It squinched a damp left eye with every mew, maybe it had gotten infected?

"You couldn't have taken it home with you?" Reimu asked.

Her defences were already penetrated though. Reimu subconsciously edged to the side of the door, ready to hold it open for them.

Sanae's expression fell solemn as she looked at the messy bundle in her arms. "I-I... I wouldn't have come to you for no reason, you know!?"

"Right, right..." Reimu said defensively. With a sigh, her expression finally softened into a gentle smile and she held the door open for them, "Get inside, the charcoal under the kotatsu might still be warm."

Sanae gave a sudden, deep bow before dodging inside, making Reimu blink a surprised blush. Sanae skilfully removed her boots at the doorway while still holding the poor kitten, then awaited Reimu's nod before stepping into the living area.

Reassured that the perhaps overly respectful and polite Sanae wouldn't be causing a mess, Reimu went ahead to put the kettle on.

When Sanae's slightly damp socks finally stepped onto the relatively warm tatami flooring, her shoulders visibly relaxed. Reimu promptly returned from the kitchen to see Sanae smiling gratefully at her, pink cheeks illuminated by candlelight.

"Reimu... thank you," she beamed, her earnest yellow eyes punching at Reimu's heart.

"Yeah yeah," Reimu rolled off the gratitude. She plonked herself down on the ground and flopped the kotatsu's blanket over her legs, "Bring that thing over here, and get under here yourself, all right?"

"Don't call her 'that thing'," Sanae quipped back.

She was still all too happy to join Reimu at the kotatsu with her bundle though. Sitting at the side adjacent to Reimu and making sure the blanket was securely over her legs, she finally let go of the little animal in her arms.

The tiny creature shivered as it wobbled on top of the blanket over Sanae's legs, mewling with a little more energy than before. Sanae carefully ran her hands along the kitten's sides, unable to keep a doting smile from her face.

' _She sure looks happy,_ ' Reimu thought to herself - before realising self-consciously that there was a goofy smile on her own face from watching them.

Well, they're here now. Reimu's plans to sleep early had taken a total 180, but might as well be helpful. She held a candle closer to the kitten, and Sanae pulled back so they could both get a closer look at her.

"... How'd you know it's a girl?" Reimu stiffly continued the conversation.

"I like animals," Sanae replied. She tilted her head to the side, trying to get a good look at the baby's face, "phew, she doesn't seem hurt. Just a mess."

Right. Reimu had many more questions, but for now it seemed pretty clear that the kitten needed to be clean and warm. With no mother around, Reimu would have to do for now.

"I'm going to draw some hot water, get some towels, and then we can give her a bath. Make yourself comfortable, Sanae."

"I-I can help!" Sanae started to rise. The kitten lost her balance and flopped onto Sanae's leg with a confused mew. Sanae let out a small gasp and covered her mouth with her hands.

"You are helping, someone needs to keep her company," Reimu smirked, gesturing for Sanae to sit her ass down again. Realising Reimu was probably right, Sanae hesitantly relaxed her posture again.

Guests settled, Reimu set to work.

Reimu was someone who did what she had to. _When_ she had to, she did it fairly well and without complaint.

Sure sometimes this amounted to doing the bare minimum, but Reimu was an experienced host. She knew that different sorts had different needs, and as far as she was concerned the 'bare minimum' for a lost baby animal meant a comfortable amount of pampering.

Adult humans and youkai could handle themselves. Lost kids often couldn't.

And Reimu was prepared for this sort of thing, too. A large basin with only a shallow fill of soapy water. Towels. Extra heating for the kotatsu. She knew how to look after people.

"She seems to hate it, Reimu," Sanae was panged with guilt as she tried to hold the mewling baby in place while Reimu bathed her. "Maybe we should get her some food first?"

"She doesn't trust us, and she's probably not really happy about being covered in muck right now," Reimu responded, keeping a firm yet gentle grip on the cat even with her hands covered in small scratches. "She'd struggle even after eating, and a warm stressful bath after eating would probably just make her throw it up."

Sanae stared with muted shock at how experienced and adept Reimu appeared to be with this kind of thing.

Ever since moving to Gensokyo, Sanae just couldn't figure out what Reimu's deal was. Every time Sanae started to think maybe Reimu really was just lazy, something like this would happen. A warm smile spread across Sanae's cheeks at this almost motherly side to Reimu - a side she had no idea existed.

Within half an hour, the kitten was bathed and mostly dried off. By instinct she had started washing herself with her tongue, and her fur was finally fluffing up a little again.

Sanae was dotingly petting her head and back as the cat stumbled around on Sanae's legs again. Sanae wiggled a finger in front of the baby's face, but she seemed too tired to play, so Sanae returned to petting her instead, ignoring the chills running through her own back.

Reimu hung about in the doorway, silently watching the two of them for a few moments. She had just returned from the kitchen, holding a dish with a few scraps of fish. With a huff and a smile, Reimu approached the two at the kotatsu.

She nudged Sanae and showed her the dish, "Here. Give her some of this."

"Uh? Okay," Sanae apprehensively took the dish from Reimu. "You sure you don't want to feed her? It might make her like you more."

Reimu giggled and got her legs back underneath the kotatsu, "She seems to like you. Better for her to accept food from someone she trusts to begin with."

Giving an understanding nod, Sanae ruffled the kitten's scruff and nudged her in the direction of the little plate. The kitten turned back around, so Sanae did it again. After a few repeated attempts of pushing the fish in the cat's face, she started to sniff and lick at it. Then, she finally took a few small nibbles.

Sanae and Reimu's expressions both melted into relieved smiles, and they watched her with muted awe. The room's whole mood appeared to relax.

She was... probably going to be okay.

As the kitten continued to nibble, her movements becoming sleepier and more relaxed, Reimu snuggled herself under the kotatsu a little further and turned her attention to Sanae.

"Right, we've done what's important to make her comfortable, so I have some questions," Reimu said.

"I-I already said I didn't know where else to go..." Sanae blurted defensively, averting eye-contact.

"Relax, I'm not mad. I still want to know where you found her. Was there really no family around?"

Sanae looked back at Reimu to see that her expression was cool. Not cold, just earnest and genuine. Sanae took a slightly shaky breath and tried to relax again.

"I uh... I found her on my way back to the village. She was on the side of the road, crying in a puddle by herself. I couldn't see any sign of any family anywhere, but the rain was coming down so heavily already."

Reimu visibly squinted and pouted at Sanae - and this alone was enough for Sanae's eyes to jitter around while a red blush decorated her face, "I-I know I left here too late! I'm sorry! B-but if I left earlier maybe I wouldn't ha-"

"It's okay, really," Reimu consciously relaxed her expression. She wondered how else to make Sanae calm down... she briefly raised her hand to pat Sanae's shoulder, but decided against it and lowered it again.

Sanae's expression eased anyway though, and Reimu couldn't help but watch.

Then, Reimu purposefully frowned and pouted at Sanae again, and she watched Sanae's expression quickly tense up again.

Oh wow... Cute.

"So, why here and not the village?" Reimu asked, perhaps having a bit too much fun.

"B-because what if the kitten was a youkai? Or what if someone from the village thought she was a youkai!? They might want to kill her!" Sanae pouted defensively. "A-and don't say you're not mad if you're mad!"

Okay yes, Reimu had been having too much fun.

Reimu never imagined she'd have this much power over Sanae's cute expressions, but upon noticing what she was doing yeah, it was kind of assholeish huh.

Reimu sighed, relaxed her expression, and this time assertively patted Sanae on the shoulder.

She felt an anxious jolt of surprise and a quiet tremble beneath her fingers. Sanae's robes were icy, damp. The skin of her shoulders was cold. She hadn’t said a thing about how uncomfortable she felt.

"I'm sorry, Sanae," concern tickled Reimu's eyes. "I'm really really not mad. I promise."

Sanae's posture slightly hunched. She blinked shyly, guiltily as Reimu pulled her hand back.

"Good call by the way," Reimu continued to try and reassure her. "I don't think this cat is a youkai, but you still made the right choice. Better safe than sorry."

"Ph-phew..." Sanae's voice shivered.

Sanae anxiously moved her gaze back onto the kitten. The little thing was now looking quite fluffy, and her eyes appeared to be struggling to stay open. A tiny mew escaped her mouth as she wobbled in a circle and curled up in Sanae's lap.

Before Reimu knew it, Sanae was smiling again.

Reimu really wasn't used to being around someone who was this meek about intruding. All of Reimu's other friends and acquaintances just... invited themselves round, made themselves at home. So Reimu didn't quite yet know how to handle Sanae.

But... she figured she could probably stand to be a little kinder to her, all things considered.

"How about you then, you okay?" Reimu asked Sanae earnestly. "You seem kinda cold, do you need anything?"

The smile on Sanae's face beamed sweetly at Reimu, but she gently shook her head as her body quietly continued to shiver. "Nah, I'm okay. Thank you though!"

Reimu tried to avoid rolling her eyes. Sure, okay.

... Right, what next with the kitten then. She was bathed, she was fed, she was warming up, she seemed to be almost ready to get a proper sleep... She...

She. She. She.

"So. Any ideas for a name?" Reimu asked. Sanae blinked with confusion, so Reimu continued to lighten the mood, "If we're looking after her for a few days, you know?"

"We?" Sanae tilted her head at Reimu, her eyes shimmering by candlelight with a quiet gratitude. "Reimu..."

Reimu's eyes widened with a blush. She looked away at the kitten curled up on Sanae's lap, and subconsciously bit her bottom lip.

"I-I uh, I like the name 'Miu'," Sanae blurted out, "the first word that came to my head was 'Mizu', but that felt kinda on the nose, hehehe. Miu is cuter."

... Cute name. Of _course_ it would be a cute name if someone like Sanae came up with it.

But even if ‘Miu’ was a little on the nose too, Reimu couldn't help but let out a genuine giggle herself. She reached out a hand to pet her. Soft... warm... but even while half-asleep, the anxious kitten recoiled a little at Reimu's touch.

Reimu smiled sheepishly. Yeah, it might take a little while for Miu to trust her.

Reimu's gaze lifted to Sanae’s face, smiling gently at the kitten in her lap. Sanae was sat straight as a post, a quiet shiver still running through her whole body.. like she was trying so desperately to hide it.

"What am I gonna do with you..." Reimu huffed, pulling herself back out from the warm kotatsu and moving closer to Sanae's side.

Sanae giggled. "Right? She's such a hopeless little darling," she said through a quiet tremble.

"I mean _you_ ," Reimu looked Sanae directly in the face. She gave Sanae's top a gentle tug. "This is still soaked, you've been freezing and shivering this whole time, a warm kotatsu isn't gonna help if your robes are this wet. Do you want a change of clothes?"

"N-no, I'm fine. I'm more worried about Miu and you, since I'm intruding and everythi-"

"Sanae, seriously," Reimu's brow furrowed. She was beginning to get annoyed, she was _not_ used to spending time with someone this... unreasonably... meekly polite. "You wanna spend all night shivering your ass off while you let Miu and me get cosy? Come on."

Sanae edged away and straightened her back even further. "I really am okay, Reimu," she said with confidence, but the defensive tone in her voice was clear as day. "It's my fault I'm hiding from the rain here, so I don't want to intrude any more than I already have."

"Say yes, moron." Reimu looked down, gripping Sanae a little tighter.

Sanae turned and defiantly gripped Reimu's wrist. "What's it matter to you? I'll keep out of your hair Reimu, I'm just grateful to have been allowed to stay here."

" _Sanae!!_ " Reimu tugged her hand back and grabbed Sanae's hand instead.

A jolt of panic ran through Sanae's body, her eyes staring wide-eyed at Reimu as hints of fear disturbed her meek expression.

Ugh. UGH.

"What's your deal, huh!?" Reimu grit her teeth, staring Sanae directly in the eyes. Her gaze fell to the ground, but her warm hand remained tightly gripped on Sanae's red and cold hand. "You'd rather work than take my warning about the weather? You risk the weather for a kitten, even though you knew I might reject you at the door? You sit here shivering, as if it's too _rude_ for you to _take care of yourself_ for once!?"

Reimu finally brought her angry, red cheeks to face Sanae again. Sanae's ashamed eyes looked back at Reimu's with speechless shock, quivering teeth biting down on her lip. A jostled-about Miu tried haplessly to growl in her confusion at the situation.

Sanae opened her mouth. "I-I-... I'm sorry... I-..."

Reimu assertively scooped up Miu from Sanae's lap. The sleepy kitten let out a squeaky grumble and nibbled at Reimu's thumb, but Reimu laid her down gently on the warm corner of the blanket that had been between her and Sanae.

Then, Reimu grabbed Sanae's hand in hers again, once again focusing her angry, zealous glare on Sanae's eyes.

"If you want to survive in Gensokyo, you need to take care of yourself. You need to let yourself be taken care of. What if some egomaniac locked you out when you're in need? What if some youkai ate you while you were lost in the rainy woods by yourself? Quit it with the childish selfless shtick. You're... _allowed_ to take care of yourself. If you're cold, shivering, lost... it's okay to be selfish."

Now Reimu had done it; Sanae's eyes were welling up with tears. Reimu's eyes darted around self-consciously, she couldn't remember the last time she'd ranted at someone like that.

Reimu gave Sanae's hand a shy tug, and she calmed her voice down, "I'm drawing you a bath and getting you a clean change of clothes, whether or not you accept them. You can struggle and object like Miu here did but I'm not gonna let you sit here, keeping to yourself, freezing yourself sick. Get up."

She felt Sanae's fingers nervously clench around hers, and grip her hand back.

Finally, slowly, Sanae nodded.

"... Thanks, Reimu."

Sanae continued to wear a guilty expression for the following ten-or-so minutes while Reimu prepared the bath. Reimu was admittedly still too shocked at how heated she’d gotten to care about Sanae's understandable awkwardness. Sometimes even Reimu felt like she really didn't care about people until how much she cared about them hit her like a brick. Confusing.

... Well, if Sanae was going to keep acting like a lost little kid herself... Reimu might as well keep taking care of her, too.

It was only when Reimu playfully threw a set of fresh, warm, night-robes at Sanae's face with a giggle that she finally spied a smirk sneaking onto her friend's cheeks.

"Take as long as you need, I mean it," Reimu took the opportunity to try and break the ice again. "You might be stuck here for a while... might as well make yourself at home."

So she did.

Sanae ended up spending a good while soaking in the bath after washing. A little space away from each other after all their stiff encounters throughout the day was probably exactly what they both needed too.

Something must have been working at least. After about half an hour, Reimu shouted "You still alive in there?" into the bath room, to hear a giggle and a "Yeees!" in response.

Reimu couldn't help but smile at that.

It was perhaps another hour of quiet, nothing besides the thrashing of rain against the shrine's run-down walls and boards, before Sanae's feet plodded back into the main room. Her shy composure softened even further when she noticed that there were two futons laid out around the kotatsu.

"What's all this?" Sanae grinned, dabbing her green hair with a towel. It sprang softly with every touch... Sanae's hair seemed so light and fluffy.

"I figured it'd be warmer for Miu if we all slept in here," Reimu said without looking up. She had her eyes fixed on Miu, her tiny body rising up and down with her breathing as she slept. Miu’s nose squeaked as she breathed out... hopefully she hadn't caught a cold.

* _KUSHUN_ * Sanae sneezed. "Ah, excuse me..." she said, eager to get back under the kotatsu.

"By the way," Reimu turned to Sanae, earnest concern still in her eyes, "I brought in my pot of miso soup from earlier. It's probably still warm, and you didn't eat dinner yet, right? So uh... help yourself, and stuff."

Reimu watched Sanae's mouth open. No words came out, and her mouth instead eased into a smile. The soft mood in the room was charmingly accompanied by an especially deep breath out from the snoring kitten.

"Thanks for the food, Reimu."

It was getting late, and both of them had accepted that Sanae wouldn't be going home tonight. Luckily it seemed like she had been able to let her gods know that she was safe.

"Perk of being a shrine maiden, I don't even need a mobile phone to contact them!"

Reimu didn't know what a mobile phone was, she just nodded. It was actually really relieving to finally have some semblance of a normal relaxed conversation between friends, but Reimu still began to urge Sanae to get some sleep. Sanae, unlike Reimu, had been working all day. She'd probably been up early, she'd gotten drenched and cold, and now she was sneezing.

Reimu promised to watch Miu for a little longer before sleeping herself, just to set Sanae's heart at ease.

"Hey, Reimu...?" Sanae asked, nervously pulling the sheets up to her nose. There was only one candle left lit in the room, near where Reimu was sat with Miu. The dim, sleepy atmosphere was only cushioned by the rain rhythmically tumbling down the walls, and Sanae already sounded like she could drop off at any second.

"Hm?" Reimu turned to face Sanae. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I feel nice," Sanae nodded, her head shuffling against the pillow. "It's just... I've never heard you talk like that. L-like you did earlier, I mean."

"Heheh," Reimu scratched her cheek and awkwardly stared at the ceiling. "I'm usually the one who's difficult to take care of, so I'm not used to it either."

"E-eh...?" Sanae rose up from bed, a light blush on her cheeks.

Reimu turned back to Sanae with a sincere smile. "Maybe Marisa's rubbed off on me or something. I felt like if I didn't do or say anything, you really were just gonna let yourself sit there freezing all night... that made me kinda angry."

A genuine smile trickled onto Sanae's own face, and stayed there. Then, she sunk back into bed.

"Yeah... I probably would have, heheh. I'm really not used to life here yet, huh."

"I know I can seem grumpy and hard to approach, but if you ever need to lean on me you uh... you can. Promise."

"Thanks, Reimuu," Sanae grinned, a rebellious yawn slurring her words. "Knowing you're here makes Gensokyo feel a bit more manageable..." she giggled.

Reimu heard a squeak coming from Miu. She turned to look at the kitten, who had just stretched out and was now flaked out on her side. Reimu carefully gave Miu's tummy a gentle stroke... so soft... so warm... she seemed to be doing just fine.

Before Reimu knew it, she had been absentmindedly watching Miu for about 5 minutes with a proud smile on her face. She took a deep breath in, and turned to look at Sanae.

Eyes shut, calm breathing... she was already fast asleep.

Reimu shuffled up from her spot underneath the kotatsu. Thankfully, with all of them in here, the room itself had gotten fairly warm.

She kneeled down besides Sanae's futon, watching her for a while. Sanae appeared so serene and innocent... Reimu could hardly believe she was the same person she argued with all the time.

Far from the arrogant girl Reimu had met a year ago, Sanae was still just a kid herself. A kid who still felt so lost about her place in all this.

A kid who'd maybe gotten in way over her head.

... God knows Reimu knew how that all felt.

"If you're feeling lost... it's okay to be taken care of. We all need to be here for each other sometimes, you know?" she said.

Without thinking, Reimu carefully laid a hand on Sanae's head, and gave her hair a gentle stroke. So soft... so warm...

This kitten, too, would be just fine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glossary:  
> goshintai - (also known as shintai or go-shintai) physical objects that worshippers use to communicate with shinto gods. Rather than actually housing gods, goshintai are more like access points for worship or a god's power.  
> kotatsu - a heated table with a blanket covering its sides, perfect for relaxing in cold weather  
> tatami - a traditional Japanese mat made with straw. It's often used for flooring.  
> mizu - water. Very on-the-nose name idea for a drenched kitten.
> 
> \-------------------
> 
> You've probably noticed that I changed the name of this fic from "Sleepover" to "The ReiSana One-shot Collection". As I originally planned to do with "Crush (on) Your Rival", I'll be adding to this every now and then whenever I make a new short story about these two.
> 
> After I wrote "Deck the Hells" I suffered from really bad writers block for at least half a month, and put all my drafts and planned ideas on hold. I was disappointed in myself for various aspects of "Deck the Hells" and it really got to me.
> 
> So I wrote this oneshot, "KItten", as a way to force myself out of writers block by writing something simple and indulgent. It was nice to write, I hope you enjoyed reading it.
> 
> I actually have some ideas for a second chapter of "Kitten", but I'll decide at a later date whether I want to write that or not.
> 
> For now, I'm currently working on another slightly angsty Touhou fanfic about Reimu, so look forward to that!


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